Week of Prayer draws 400,000 in Europe

STUTTGART, Germany (ANS) — Approximately 400,000 Christians from different denominations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland joined in prayer during the Evangelical Alliance’s annual week of prayer, Jan. 8 to 15.

In many places they went in the public arena and prayed in town halls, in front of state Parliaments and railway stations. Christians in the North German city of Bremen chartered a streetcar, which took them through the different quarters, while they prayed for concerns like high unemployment and crime.

Included in the prayer booklet was an appeal to pray for the Millennium development goals, for example to halve extreme poverty by the year 2015.

In most of the 1,250 venues Christians came together for traditional prayer meetings as well as prayer concerts or round-the-clock prayers. It was the 160th week of prayer organized by the Evangelical Alliance. The spiritual focus this year was on the “I am” words of Jesus.

Hartmut Steeb, general secretary of the German alliance representing 1.3 million evangelicals, said he was pleased with the results. The turnout had remained stable, and the meetings had developed into Bible study courses on the person of Jesus, he told the Evangelical News Agency Idea.

Published by Keener Communications Group, February 2006

Christian Examiner™, P.O. Box 2606 El Cajon, CA 92021 • 619-668-5100 • Fax 619-668-1115
Email: info@christianexaminer.com • Web site: www.christianexaminer.com